RE: Cuyahoga County Site Visit with ACF Leadership

From: Kruse, Julie (ACF) (CTR) <Julie.Kruse@acf.hhs.gov> Wed, May 24, 2023 at 4:57 PM EDT (GMT-04:00)
To: Weeks, Angela <angela.weeks@uconn.edu>; Anderson, Karen <Karen.Anderson@jfs.ohio.gov>; Croessmann, Jennifer
A <Jennifer.Croessmann@jfs.ohio.gov>; Sewell, Kori <Kori.Sewell@jfs.ohio.gov>

Hello Karen, Jennifer, and Kori,

Thank you so much for all you do in being trailblazers to creating better services and outcomes for LGBTQIA2S+ children and
families in child welfare, you are very appreciated at ACF!

Per Angela’s email below, this is still very much just in exploratory phase on my end, I haven’t run it up the chain, but I would
really love ACF leadership to see first hand what it looks like when folks address the challenges LGBTQIA2S+ youth face in care,
and deal with the hard issues – data collection, organizational culture, etc. etc. and not only come to better outcomes but
really work to institutionalize successful programs so they are not just a one-off experience tied to an external consultant –
but embedded into local leadership like you.

Would you be available to chat sometime next Monday or Tuesday about this? If not, I am then out of the office May 31-June
7 but could talk sometime after that.

Thanks so much,

Julie

Julie Kruse (she/her)

Senior Advisor for LGBTQI+ Initiatives
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Julie.Kruse@acf.hhs.gov
C: 202-809-5496

From: Weeks, Angela <angela.weeks@uconn.edu>

Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2023 4:42 PM
To: Kruse, Julie (ACF) (CTR) <Julie.Kruse@acf.hhs.gov>; Karen.Anderson@jfs.ohio.gov; Jennifer.Croessmann@jfs.ohio.gov;
Kori.Sewell@jfs.ohio.gov
Subject: Cuyahoga County Site Visit with ACF Leadership

Hi All,

I have some exciting news. Julie Kruse, included here, is a Senior Advisor for LGBTQ+ Initiatives at ACF. She has also
been a long-time advocate for LGBTQI+ people and spent years at Family Equality fighting for the rights of LGBTQ+
families. She has followed the QIC-LGBTQ2S work closely and has been really impressed with all that you did at
Cuyahoga County. She would like to bring in ACF leadership to hear from you, including Assistant Secretary January
Contreras. The possibility is still being figured it, but I said I would connect her to you all so that you could figure out
the possibilities.

Angela Weeks, DBA

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers (What’s this?)
Director, National SOGIE Center
Project Director, Center of Excellence on LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity
Project Director,
National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for LGBTQ2S Children

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and Youth in Foster Care
Angela.weeks@uconn.edu
https://lgbtqequity.org/
www.sogiecenter.org

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